Women's sexual desire often goes undiscussed – yet it's one of their most common health concerns

• Despite desire (also known as libido or sex drive) being the most common sexual health concern for women, most women aren’t really taught about it growing up.
• Discrepancies in sexual desire and satisfaction are often reported as key reasons for relationship difficulties.
• This article is part of Women’s Health Matters, a series about the health and wellbeing of women and girls around the world.

Desire is constantly changing

• Desire is also a multifaceted response, which can either follow or occur at the same time as pleasure or arousal.
• Sexual desire can also be affected by many environmental factors, which helps explain why it may wane during periods of stress or in longer term relationships.
• Even factors such as gender roles and norms are thought to cause low sexual desire for women in heterosexual relationships.

Certain life transitions can have a major effect

• Pregnancy, the post-partum period, perimenopause and menopause are all significant transitional periods in women’s lives that can also have a major impact on sexual desire.
• For example, body changes that may happen during these transitional periods can affect body image and self-esteem, which in turn affects desire.
• Importantly, these life transitions also affect other areas of our lives – and may lead to stress, fatigue, changes in relationship roles and less time for intimacy.

Desire can be cultivated

• Recent psychosocial approaches to addressing low sexual desire emphasise the importance of balancing intimacy and eroticism, which is a focus on sensuality and pleasure over arousal and orgasm.
• Research indicates that, while intimacy is essential in healthy partnered sexuality, eroticism helps increase desire by promoting mystery and sexual excitement.
• Sexual desire is not a problem to be solved – but a skill to be learned and cultivated throughout life.